MI7?
by Dobby and Padfoot
Summary: Alex is a wizard, but he never attended Hogwarts. Homeschooled by his uncle in the magical arts, when Ian dies, he is recruited by the Military Intelligence branch 6. And 7? How young is too young for a wizard to become a spy? What troubles will Alex find, when forced to attend a magical school? Hogwarts beware, Alex Rider is coming. Younger!Alex Powerful!Alex. Starts in Year 5.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a crossover between Alex Rider and Harry Potter, as I'm sure you've gathered. Harry Potter is canon through book four, but starting in five there is no telling what I may randomly decide to change. Alex Rider will probably be very AU. Alex is a wizard, and Ian died when he was 11, not 14, so I pushed the events up three years. He has done all the missions looked at in the books (Not,** _ **Never Say Die**_ **, though. I still haven't read it. I've been waiting for it to come out on paperback, and now it is on my Christmas list, so my Mom won't let me buy it until Christmas is over in case my grandparents bought it for me, but anyways I'm really excited to read it when I get it. Sorry for the rambling.) as well as some additional missions for both MI6 and its magical counterpart MI7.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own either of these series or I wouldn't have this problem. →**

→ **Sorry if the characters are OOC. Alex is probably going to be, and some of that will be intentional, but Snape and Dumbledore being OOC is unintentional and is because I have little practice with writing them. If you have tips let me know.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Fourteen-year-old Alex Rider was torn between being annoyed and being pleased. As a child, his Uncle had homeschooled him in magic. Legally, he was too young to use a wand, but Ian taught him on Ian's own wand, and he even taught him to do wandless magic. However, even though Alex's magical education was far beyond NEWT level, he wasn't allowed to sit his NEWTS without first passing his OWLS, and for some reason, the Wizarding World required him to be fourteen before he could take them. Alex thought that only allowing students to skip one level was unrealistic, but, unfortunately, he didn't make the laws. The law also required that he attend his fifth through seventh years of school, which was the reason for his split feelings.

On one hand, he would have to sit through three years of learning stuff he already knew, and would no doubt be forced to use a wand, regardless of the fact that he hadn't used a wand since he was seven, and he was highly proficient in wandless magic. On the other hand, though, attending Hogwarts would get him away from MI6. Sure MI7, (Military Intelligence Branch 7, or as it was more commonly called, "Magical Intelligence") would probably still try to pull him from school on occasion, but they would have to significantly lessen the number of times they did so; Alex knew using underage wizards as spies would be highly frowned upon by Albus Dumbledore, and Albus Dumbledore had a lot of sway with the wizarding world's legal system.

In the almost four years he had been a spy, Alex had occasionally nurtured the idea of telling Dumbledore about his spying, but he had dismissed the idea almost instantly. Not only was he unsure if the man would help him, but he also despised the idea of anyone knowing what it was he did. They always looked at him in pity or fear. Both of which he loathed.

Fortunately for Alex, his mixed feelings on the matter, were unimportant seeing as he wasn't really being given much choice here.

At the moment, Alex was waiting for a teacher to come to pick him up and "introduce" him to the Wizarding World. Alex thought this very unnecessary considering he had been to the Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and even Hogwarts once during missions he had been on, but obviously, the officials either didn't know or didn't care.

Alex just hoped that whoever came to get him wouldn't treat him like a child; he wasn't sure if he could stay cordial if that happened, and Alex knew that MI7 would love to pick him up full time if he was expelled from school.

* * *

Severus Snape was irritated. Mainly due to the fact that Albus Dumbledore, the meddling coot, had called him to his office once again. Now, usually, this couldn't mean anything good. By Severus's best guess, he assumed that the old coot wanted him to do something that he would be less than pleased with.

When being asked to do something for the headmaster, things generally fell into two distinct categories: things that Severus tolerated doing, and things he despised. Severus knew that he only called him into his office when it was something that the headmaster knew was not going to make Severus happy.

He came to a stop outside of the headmaster's office and said the absurd password to the Gargoyle, "Lemon Drops."

Why the headmaster used muggle candy as a password, Severus would never understand. He knew for a fact that students would sometimes stand outside and attempt to guess the password by naming countless sweets. He made his way up the staircase and knocked on the door to the office.

"Severus, come in, my boy," the headmaster said, happily.

The cheer in his voice only increased Severus's poor mood. Students would be back in two weeks, no one should be happy. Not to mention he had to give OWL's this year. Well, every year really, but this year, he had to deal with Potter and all of his bloody friends. Nothing could possibly make this year any worse, Severus had thought that morning. If only he had known that the headmaster's words would put quite the damper on that opinion of his.

Severus entered the room, and Albus held out a bowl of his lemon drops and said, "Lemon Drop, Severus?"

Severus's scowl deepened; he just wanted to get back to his potions, and plotting the deaths of his students, "No thank you, Albus. Why did you call me here?"

Albus drew back his hand and said, "Very well, my boy. I'll just get straight to the point."

Severus raised his eyebrows. This had to be the first time Albus had ever conceded to allowing them to drop the small talk before talking. He got a distinct feeling that whatever Albus asked him to do, was not going to be anything good.

"I'm afraid I have a favor I must ask of you, my boy."

Severus sighed. He knew it, "What is it, Albus?"

"I don't suppose you remember the Riders?"

Severus's eyes snapped to the headmaster. That was a name he hadn't heard in a long time. Ian Rider had been a year below him in school, and John, two years above. He had never gotten along overly well with the younger of the two, but he had been almost fond of John. Ian had been a Ravenclaw, and he had been fifth in his class. Severus had always thought he was a bit of a know-it-all, and he always seemed to be trying too hard.

Then again, Severus couldn't imagine it being easy to live up to his older brother. John was in Gryffindor, though Severus could never quite hold him in the same light as the others. Some of his mannerisms were definitely Gryffindorish, like the way, he would stand up to anyone who was being bullied, completely outright, with no regard for who heard him or what they would think of him. Not to mention his complete lack of interest in anything blood-related. But, he also had a very distinct Slytherin side. There were several instances, generally involving someone who had been accused of bullying a younger student, but not punished, when Severus had been sure John was behind it, but there never was any proof. The only reason Severus had come to that conclusion was that whenever John talked to a student about someone who had been bullying them, the very next day they would come to breakfast, looking so outrageous. Sometimes it was colored hair or skin. Once, Sirius Black even came to the Great Hall completely bald, complaining that all of his clothes but his underwear had disappeared.

Eventually, someone found him some clothes, but his hair didn't come back for almost a month. That had been after a particularly nasty prank he had pulled on Severus, and it still brought him a lot of joy. Sometimes during Order meetings, he would imagine how Black would react if it happened again. But that was impossible. Last he heard, John, his wife, and his son had been killed in a plane crash. Severus had heard rumors from Voldemort's followers hinting that it might not have been an accident, but it definitely hadn't been the Death Eaters who did it.

Severus hadn't heard much about Ian in a long time, other than a scathing remark from Lucius a long time ago that he had been working in a Muggle Bank. What could the Rider's possibly have to do with… well, with anything?

"Yes," Severus said, "What of them?"

"I'm going to tell you something and I ask you don't interrupt me until I'm done. I'll try to answer all your questions then," Severus nodded his agreement. "I'm sure you heard that John married a Muggle woman, and they had a son. Now, I'm also confident you heard of all three of them dying in a plane crash."

He looked to Severus here, so he gave the headmaster an affirmative answer.

"Well, it turns out the son wasn't quite as dead as we believed. He has been living with Ian since his parents' deaths, but Ian also died about three and a half years ago, and I am unsure who he has been living with since. I heard the boy is very proficient in magic, as I have been informed by the Ministry that Ian Rider asked permission for his nephew to take his NEWT's when he was only seven years old, but our laws require students to sit years 5-7 to take NEWT's, and we require students to be fourteen before they can start year 5, as I'm sure you are aware."

Severus was fairly confident that he knew where Albus was going with this. Simple mathematics told him that the boy would be fourteen at this time, and it would make sense for him to begin his attendance at Hogwarts. And, based off of prior experience with the headmaster, Severus suspected that he would be asked to accompany the boy to the school. Though why the headmaster chose him, would remain a mystery to Severus. It was no secret that he was incredibly ill-tempered with his students, but Albus always had unusually high confidence in him.

"I have suspicions that the boy - Alex is his name by the way - may have somehow gotten involved with Magical Intelligence. I don't know how, but I have heard several rumors of a young spy being involved in several recent high-profile, classified missions, which of course means that I don't have any details or proof; however, though the rumors seem outlandish to consider, the reason I am doing so is the rumors that used to get around about the Rider brothers themselves. Both have been speculated to have been involved with espionage, and though nothing conclusive has been proven, word among elites in the Ministry is just as convincing."

And there was the reason he was sending Severus. A spy to go talk to another spy; how poetic.

"I must ask Severus if you would be willing to gather the boy for me? I would go myself, but I'm afraid I shall be rather busy with the Order, and besides, if my suspicions are true, I feel you would be the best person to help him prepare for Hogwarts. Then return him here for the two weeks leading up to term. I'm told he is very capable of looking after himself, so I don't feel you will have to much trouble with him."

Severus really wished he could figure out a way to say "no" to the headmaster, but he never could seem to manage it. It probably dealt with the fact that the man had practically rescued him from Azkaban, and the fact that he was almost like the father that Severus had never had, not that he would ever admit it.

"I shall do it, headmaster," Severus said reluctantly, "Where and when shall I collect him?"

"He is living at an address in Chelsea, London, and I always say that there's no time like the present."

Severus sighed, resigning himself to going to fetch the boy, "Very well, I shall prepare the guest room in my quarters for him to stay until the start of term, then I shall go gather the boy."

Without waiting for a dismissal Severus stalked from the room, his robes billowing behind him in their usual fashion, completely missing the excited twinkle in the headmaster's eyes.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have suggestions on how better to write Snape and Dumbledore. I have read the books nearly seven times, but I still can't quite manage to capture their personalities accurately. Tell me if there are any errors, or even just drop me a review to tell me if you like it or not. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you, everyone, for reading my last chapter, and a special thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and especially NeleWW, andipxndy, JaXine, caveydude, Alicori, and Phantomdream for your reviews.**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Alex heard the doorbell ring. Slowly, he went to open the door, blanking his face and putting up occlumency shields as he did so. He looked through the hole in the door, and upon his recognition of the person there- Severus Snape was a highly recognizable person after all- he pulled open the door. Alex had to mentally restrain himself from asking Snape to prove his identity. He instead reached out with his magic to check for magical signatures. Seeing as Snape had the distinct signature of a potions master, not many would be able to replicate his aura, nor realize they would need too. While it wasn't infallible, Alex was willing to risk it, just this once, for the sake of preserving his non-spy persona.

"Good Afternoon, Professor Snape. My name is Alex Rider," Alex said, hesitating only slightly before reaching his hand out to the man that hopefully was really the man to be one of his new teachers and not an imposter that had done a near perfect job impersonating his soon-to-be-professor.

"A pleasure, I'm sure, Mister Rider," Snape drawled stepping into the house but not taking Alex's hand. Alex dropped his hand and took a step back towards his trunk which he had enlarged to contain all of the items he needed to bring with him: school books, gadgets from Smithers, all specially adapted for magical contact, and everything else that was in his house. It wouldn't do to let either intelligence agency come into possession of any of his belongings.

Alex stood tensely as he waited for the Professor to speak. If this was an imposter they were drawing the game out far longer than any wizard he had met in the past. So, hopefully, that meant he wasn't in danger at the time being.

"Is this all of your belongings Mister Rider?" Professor Snape asked at last. Alex felt a sense of relief wash over him that he was not being kidnapped and taken to a new criminal mastermind who wanted to torture Alex for information that he would never have been given anyways. MI6 and MI7 never told him anything, not even when it would have made it infinitely easier to perform his job.

"Yes, sir," Alex replied, hoping that was the end of the conversation, and they could leave soon. He was feeling exposed standing in his open doorway where anyone who desired could fire a gunshot or a spell in his direction.

* * *

Severus watched the tension in Rider's shoulders. He wasn't quite sure what it was that caused the boy anxiety, but for some odd reason, it wasn't him. The boy seemed to relax with Snape's presence after he had entered the house. Severus supposed that he might be nervous of the door being open, but that shouldn't be a big deal. Or, it shouldn't be a big deal, unless Albus was right about him being a spy. Not that Albus being right was overly surprising, the old coot had an annoying habit of always being right.

Severus wasn't quite sure what to make of this _Alex Rider_. He was polite, which pleased Severus more than he was willing to admit. At least it meant that he wouldn't have another Potter on his hands. That boy was ruder, and more arrogant than his father, and that was saying something.

However, Rider also wasn't anything like his father, that Severus could tell. John was outspoken, slightly brash, and rarely appeared nervous. Perhaps that was partially due to the fact that John hadn't become a spy (if indeed that was his chosen profession) until after his years at Hogwarts, and this boy was still fourteen. Not to mention that if Severus had read Albus' implications correctly, then Rider had been a spy since he was eleven, which left a good three years where he could have been involved in a large number of difficult situations.

Severus decided that he would ease the boy's worries, if it was after all the open door bothering him, and said, "We are going to be leaving now. Bring your trunk to me and I will shrink it to ease our portkey travel." Severus watched as the boy's lips quirked up. Almost as though he had found Severus' comment to be humorous. Severus chose to ignore that for now. No use making a big deal out of something - which could potentially cause a very uncomfortable two weeks of the boy living with him - about something he wasn't even sure was meant to make fun of him.

"Yes, sir," Rider replied again, rolling his trunk towards Severus. Since when did they make trunks with wheels? He pulled out his want and shrunk the boy's trunk. Rider picked up the trunk and looked at Severus, the anxiety reappearing in his eyes. This was going to be a long two weeks. Did everything freak the boy out?

Severus pulled out the portkey, an old and torn stuffed bear. Thank you, Albus, for picking the most childish muggle object. The boy bit his lip, likely to hold back a snort of laughter. Severus couldn't help but make a jab at Albus, "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. You're going to be attending a school where the headmaster picks out portkeys like this."

The boy really did laugh then, and Severus felt a spark of pride that he had done that. He scolded himself immediately after thinking that. He was the cold-hearted dungeon bat. He wasn't supposed to be making his students laugh. Not that it was a particularly long laugh or even a laugh at all as most people would describe it. It was more like a small noise of amusement, which was likely the source of his feelings towards the boy. It reminded him of himself at that age. The laugh of someone who rarely found cause to laugh and had forgotten how to do so.

"Come, Mister Rider; we are headed to Hogwarts," Severus held out the portkey for him to grab ahold of. When the boy had a one-handed, but firm, grip on the portkey, Severus hissed the password, " _Cuddly Teddy Bear_."

Cuddly Teddy Bear is a hard phrase to say in a normal voice and not sound childish, but Severus thought he did a relatively good job at spitting out the words of the vile password the old man had chosen. He heard Rider cough in the background but this spinning made it difficult to discern whether he was covering amusement at the password or merely cough. Severus didn't think too much into it.

The pair rematerialized in the headmaster's office where Albus was waiting at his desk with a bowl of lemon drops prepared in front of him. Severus knew the treats were infused with a slight calming potion. Not enough to affect most people drastically, but just enough to keep interactions with the headmaster pleasant. Severus wondered if he should've warned the boy.

"Lemon drop, Alex?" Albus asked the boy in the grandfatherly voice of his, the twinkle in his eyes shining brightly as he offered the treat to Rider.

All evidence of Rider's laughter of earlier had henceforth vanished, and he appeared to tense at the offering of the treat, but he still reached out his hand to take it. This action surprised Severus, as did the boy's response, "Thank you, headmaster."

The boy put the treat in his mouth, and perhaps it would've gone unnoticed if Severus hadn't been scrutinizing his actions, but as his mouth closed around the Lemon Drop, it vanished. Severus could clearly see both of the boy's hands, and neither were touching his wand. Either it had been a trick of the light, or this fourteen-year-old boy was performing wandless magic. Severus doubted that but didn't dismiss it as a possibility. There was always a chance, but it was more likely the boy had simply swallowed the candy. As that thought crossed his mind, Rider started to cough as though choking.

"Sorry sir," he said, "I nearly swallowed it." The timing of the statement was suspicious but Severus felt himself believing the statement. At any rate, it was more likely than wandless vanishing spells, much less at the boy's age.

Albus waived off the apology with a smile and started to interrogate the boy, in the nicest possible way of course, "So, Alex, how have you been?"

"Quite well, sir."

"Excited for the school year?"

"It's school," Rider deadpanned, causing Severus to stifle laughter.

"I shall try not to take offense to that, my dear boy," Albus said fondly, "Have you had a chance to do any traveling recently?"

"No," the boy seemed to be blocking all of Albus' attempts at gathering information, "I don't have much of a chance for traveling with my muggle education."

Albus looked in Severus' direction and the man shook his head at the headmaster. The boy was too well guarded to give away any information. They would do better to make the boy comfortable if they wanted answers from him.

"Well, I do hope you don't have too terrible a time here at Hogwarts. You will be staying with Professor Snape for the remainder of the summer, and hopefully, at some point, we will be able to bring you to see some other students that will be in your year once the term begins."

"Thank you headmaster, and thank you, Professor," Rider replied simply. Severus really hoped the timidness of the boy went away at some point. How was he supposed to figure out anything about the boy if he blocked every attempt at gathering information with vague non-descript answers?

"Come, Mister Rider," Severus said as he walked towards the doors, "My quarters are this way."

"Yes, sir," the boy said following after him with a backward glance at the headmaster, who waved gleefully at him. Rider gave an awkward three-fingered wave to Albus before following Severus from the room. At least if Severus was going to have to share his room with a teenager for two weeks it was this particular teenager. He shied away from even spending too prolonged a time with his godson. Though by this point Draco was starting to mellow out a bit, his incessant complaints about Potter were too much for even Severus to listen too. Rider was, at the very least, fairly calm and quiet.

The walk was uneventful, though the boy didn't seem overly interested in the halls of Hogwarts, almost as though he had seen them before, which was impossible. But then again, was it more or less likely than an underage wizarding spy?

Severus told Rider the password to his quarters when they arrived and gave him a brief tour of the rooms.

They walked into the portrait where there was a medium sized sitting room that housed a couch, two armchairs, and a fireplace, which was warded against unwanted floo guests. Severus made sure to tell this fact to the boy which seemed to ease the worry woven into his shoulders. Attached to the sitting room, was a small kitchen.

He led Rider down the hallway and pointed out the potions lab ("You can use this if I am with you or have given you permission to use it."), his quarters ("There is no reason for you to come in here unless there is an emergency."), the bathroom, and the guest room.

He opened the door to the guest room which was painted a dark blue. The walls inside the room were a blend of deep greens and blues, with a bed in the corner of the room, a dark green desk, a large closet, and a bathroom off the right side of the room.

"This is where you will be staying while you are here, which will be until you pass your NEWTs, with the exception of when you are in term. Organize it how you wish, I just ask that you keep it somewhat clean."

"Thank you, Professor Snape," the look in his eyes clearly showed the sincerity of that statement. It was clear that he hadn't been expecting a room quite as nice as this one.

"Call me Severus," he said, figuring that if the boy would be staying with him for so long a period of time, they might as well be slightly less formal, "Unless we are with other students of course."

"Of course, and you can call me Alex."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. Drop me a review if you feel like it. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, all!**

 **I hope that none of you are having too awful of a time during the current Quarantine situation, and I hope that all of you and your families are staying healthy. It was pointed out to me by Blurbble14 that the current situation provided the perfect time to work on the next chapter, so you really have them to thank for this chapter! I was working on a chapter for my story Truth Unravelled, but it wasn't going so well and this provided a much needed distraction.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed.**

 **Disclaimer: Not mine!**

 **And without further ado, I hope that you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

It only took Alex a few days to decide that he rather liked staying with Severus. By this point in his life, it had been several years since he had last been required to live with a guardian for an extended period of time. Since Jack's death, MI6 had more or less allowed him to live on his own, only sending an agent to pose as his guardian when absolutely necessary. And MI7 didn't much care where he lived or who he lived with as long as they could continue to convince him to work missions for them. The threat of wiping Tom's memory under the guise of needing to remove all traces of magic usually did the trick. Even if Alex personally thought that Tom would be better off forgetting all about him, Alex was well aware that such a removal included danger of destroying his mind. There was no way Alex would risk that happening.

Despite his acceptance of the place he was staying, it hadn't taken Alex long to figure out that Severus was up to something. In the week he had been staying with Severus, the man had disappeared on at least three occasions in the middle of the night. Alex was a light sleeper, and the man commonly stumbled when he returned with, what Alex had no doubt, were some sort of injuries. It wasn't difficult to guess what this was about.

Removed as he was from mainstream Wizarding society, even Alex knew about the Dark Lord's return to power—or, according to the vast majority of the Ministry of Magic, his falsified return to power—and Alex had no doubts about the accuracy of this fact. MI7 wasn't particularly tight-lipped in their displeasure with how Fudge was choosing to handle this newest crisis—though they rarely were—and Alex had caught that they knew of his return. They also knew about Albus Dumbledore reforming the Order of the Phoenix.

Since Alex had done a decent amount of research into each professor that he would have while he attended Hogwarts, he was aware that Severus was accused of being a Death Eater at the end of the first war. Somehow or another he had gotten out of that. Alex strongly suspected that Dumbledore was responsible for this. Of course, this suggested that Severus was spying for the Order rather than working for the Dark Lord, but Alex was still pretty sure the man was going to Death Eater meetings during the nights when he disappeared. It didn't bother Alex near as much as it probably should. What did he care if his new temporary guardian was a spy? It still beat being under MI6's thumb all the time.

So no, the only reason Alex was bothered was that Severus had been gone for the past four hours, and he had yet to return. Alex wasn't sure he qualified as worried, per se, but he was somewhat concerned for Severus's present well being. That was why Alex found himself waiting by the fireplace for Severus to floo back from whatever meeting he had just attended.

There was a book open on his lap, some Potions book or another that he had pulled off one of the shelves in the sitting room. Old habits die hard, and it was always best to pretend he was doing something in case Severus showed up and demanded to know why he was out here. Five in the morning wasn't too unreasonable of a time to be awake after all. It had been an interesting book, and though he was mostly skimming it, Alex was pretty sure that Severus had written it.

Hopefully, it was alright that he was reading it. There had been no mention of books being off-limits, but it was always hard to predict the reactions of people he didn't know so well. There was one potion in particular that had caught Alex's eye. If the book was to be believed, it was able to reduce the aftereffects of the cruciatus curse. There were a few notes in the margins that suggested that it wasn't as very effective yet, but even some easing of the bloody tremors the curse caused was a win in Alex's opinion. Maybe the potion could help prevent some of the long-term nerve damage it caused.

Before Alex could give any more thought to the book, the fireplace flared to life, and the man who had been the source of his curiosity stepped through the fire. Though, _stepped_ was putting it nicely. Stumbled was much more accurate to the way the potion's master came through the fireplace.

Alex was on his feet in an instant, and he put his arms under Severus's own to try to keep him from falling, which it seemed like he was likely to do. The man was shaking, and from the glazed look in his eyes, Alex suspected that someone had held him under the cruciatus curse for a bit too long. Judging by the Death Eater robes, it was probably the Dark Lord. It was really just an affirmation of what he had been speculating before.

Gently, Alex eased Severus into the armchair at the head of the room. "Severus? Are you alright?"

Severus just blinked, and Alex noted the strange way that his eyes fixed on different points around the room but didn't seem to ever land on Alex. Tremors and hallucinations then. That wasn't good. Alex knew the Dark Lord was insane, but to use the cruciatus for this long on one of his _followers_ seemed a bit excessive.

Alex considered for a minute before he turned to go to Severus's lab. While it was technically true he had been ordered not to go in there, this situation probably counted as an emergency. There had to be a pain-relief potion of some sort in there for him to use on the professor.

It didn't take long for Alex to find his storage of potions, and while he almost went back with just the pale pink pain-relief potion, the dark blue bottle that matched the description of the very potion he had just read about drew his eye, and yes, it was labeled. The notes in the book had said it didn't work _well,_ but even if it worked a little that would probably help Severus.

Alex grabbed it and ran back into the sitting room. "Okay, Severus. I grabbed some of your potions. You should take them."

He held the bottle out to Severus, but when he made no move to grab it—as Alex suspected—he uncapped it and held it to Severus's lips. The man froze, but when Alex gently pinched his nose shut, he opened his mouth. Alex wasted no time pouring the cruciatus relief potion into his mouth. It looked like he was trying to avoid swallowing it for a minute, but eventually, he had to do so if he wanted to breathe. Alex repeated the procedure with the pain potion after a quick glance at the ingredients of both to make sure they didn't have anything that might cause a bad reaction together.

The shaking dulled somewhat, and Severus fell into what looked like an uneasy sleep with Alex curled up in the chair across the room from him with the book reopened in his lap to keep an eye on him.

—-

Severus groaned as he pulled himself upright in the armchair. It figured that he would find himself there after a bad meeting like the one last night. The Dark Lord had been in a particularly foul mood and Severus had caught the brunt of his anger for being unable to report on Potter's whereabouts yet again. The only part of the situation that had Severus surprised was that the pain that typically followed when he was unable to make it to his lab to grab the potions he needed immediately after a meeting.

He opened his eyes, and the first thing that caught his notice was the two empty potion bottles sitting on the table beside him. The second was the teenager curled up in the chair across the room. It wasn't a stretch to put together what must have happened.

Severus winced. He had been hoping to keep his being a spy from Alex for as long as possible, of course, to try to keep him away from the danger of it all. However, if Alex already knew, it would be a lot easier to have Alex go stay at Grimmauld Place when Lucius came to drop Draco off. His godson always came to stay with him for two or three days the week before school started, and Severus didn't think that it would be a good idea for the Dark Lord to be made aware of Alex being here. Undoubtedly, he would expect Severus to pledge Alex's allegiance to him, which was not something Severus was willing to do.

Severus stood. If Alex was sleeping, it would probably be the best time to go see Albus. The Floo was out of the question, so Severus just walked to his room to put on some other robes.

As he was about to turn to walk out the door, he glanced back at Alex. He suddenly felt an impulse to cover the teen with a blanket, but he just shook his head and turned to walk out the door. Why would he do something like that? He was the cold hearted dungeon bat; he did _not_ tuck teenagers in.

It didn't take long for Severus to reach the headmaster's office, and after hissing the new candy themed password ("gum drops"), he walked up the staircase and knocked sharply on the door.

"Come in, Severus, my boy," Albus called from inside.

Severus just rolled his eyes as he always did when Albus immediately guessed he was at the door. The man was too knowledgeable for his own good. Severus walked through the door, fully prepared for another dragging conversation. Should he really be willingly walking into this situation?

Albus smiled and held out his ever-present bowl of lemon drops. "Lemon drop?"

"No thank you. I'm here to speak with you."

Albus leaned back in his chair. "Is it news about young Alexander?"

"Not exactly." Severus sighed. It wasn't for a lack of trying, but Alex really was very good at keeping anything he thought needed to be hidden. Unfortunately, it seemed as though that was just about everything.

The twinkle in Albus's eye dimmed slightly. "He hasn't told you anything?"

"Alex is quite adept at keeping things hidden, and he is _most certainly_ hiding something." The name came out of Severus's mouth without a second thought, but when Albus spoke again, he immediately regretted using the informal name he had been calling the teen by.

A bright smile lit up Albus's face. "Alex? Why, Severus, I am so glad the two of you are getting along."

Severus ignored his words. The man was undoubtedly going to be insufferable about this. He always became so excited when Severus acted friendly towards another human being. But that was not why Severus was here. "I was here to talk to you about a different matter, Albus."

The headmaster nodded, and Severus continued, "Draco is coming to stay with me on Tuesday. You know he always does. I believe it would be best if Mr. Rider were not present when Lucius drops him off."

"That makes sense, but I'm not sure where you intend for him to stay. I could find an Order member to take him in if that is what you are looking for." Albus was hesitant, but then, that wasn't really so surprising. There was a lot that would go into finding a temporary placement for Alex, and he had to worry a great deal about keeping a number of secrets from non-Order members, which included Alex.

Severus let a small smirk crawl onto his face. It wasn't often that he was the one coming up with plans. Usually the headmaster had all of the intel. "I was thinking I could drop him off at Headquarters. I'm sure even with fools like Black living there they could manage to keep him alive."

"There are a lot of secrets he would be at risk of finding out if we moved him there. It would certainly make hiding your spying a great deal more difficult."

It was clear that Albus was not fond of the idea of revealing Severus to the boy so soon, but Severus was fairly certain it was much too late for that. "He already knows."

"You told him?" The shock in Albus's voice did not surprise Severus. Severus was a private person; someone knowing of one of the best kept secrets of his life when he had only known the kid for a few days was likely to be a shock on anyone who knew Severus well. It just so happened that Albus was probably the only person who did know Severus well, but that was irrelevant.

Severus shook his head. "No. I believe it is safe to say he figured it out for himself."

Albus just raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner, but the twinkling in his eyes told Severus that he had already suspected Alex would figure it out. Of course the old fool would think that. He thought the boy was a spy. Not that Severus disagreed per se. There were several signs that pointed towards Alex having some unique skill sets that were common tools for spying, but Severus had not yet confirmed that fact.

"I'm pretty sure he was awake when I came home from tonight's meeting."

The confusion on Albus's face became more genuine. " _Pretty_ sure?"

Severus rolled his eyes. He knew this wasn't going to be a short conversation. "I was rather out of it, and when I woke up there were empty potion bottles beside me, and Al- Mr. Rider was asleep on an armchair."

"Ah. I see," Albus said. "Well, in that case, I think it would be a wonderful idea for Alex to stay at Grimuald place. He might have a chance to make some new friends."  
Severus winced. That was just what he wanted. Alex talking to Potter and his fanclub. Unfortunately, with the choice between him meeting Potter and meeting Lucius, there really was no contest. Severus would just have to hope that Alex managed to maintain the calm personality he had been showing so far. He should be fine.

"Great. I'll talk to Mr. Rider, and bring him to Headquarters on Tuesday morning. Can you tell the mutt?"

Disappointment appeared on Albus's face, and Severus knew exactly why that was there. Really though, the old man should just accept that he and Black were never _ever_ going to get along.

"Will do, my boy," Albus said. "And take it easy today. You know that potion of yours is far from perfect, and you could use the rest."

Severus just suppressed his smile and stalked from the room. It was time to sit down and have a long—and hopefully not too exhausting—talk with Alex.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please drop me a review to let my know what you think if you feel like it.**

— **I've spent the past 5 months writing a 106,000 word first draft of a novel I'm writing, so I haven't had a chance to do much fanfiction writing, but now that I am done and waiting until I can work up the motivation to start the second draft, I might finally get a chance to update my stories more often.**

— **Everyone stay safe! Good luck!**


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